_Climate and Agriculture._--On the whole the climate is healthy and favourable to agricultural pursuits. The mean temperature for the year is 47.3° F., for January 38° and for July 59°. The average annual rainfall is 34 in., the coast being considerably drier than the uplands. In the low-lying districts of the south the harvest is nearly as early as it is in the rest of Scotland, but in the north it is often late. The principal wheat districts are Strathmore and the neighbourhood of Dundee and Arbroath; and the yield is well up to the best Scottish average. Barley, an important crop, has increased steadily. Oats, however, though still the leading crop, have somewhat declined. Potatoes are mostly grown near the seaboard in the higher ground; turnips also are largely raised. The northern belt, where it is not waste land, has been turned into sheep walks and deer forests. The black-faced sheep are the most common in the mountainous country; cross-bred sheep in the lowlands. Though it is their native county (where they date from 1808), polled Angus are not reared so generally as in the neighbouring shire of Aberdeen, but shorthorns are a favourite stock and Irish cattle are imported for winter-feeding. Excepting in the vicinity of the towns there are no dairy farms. Horses are raised successfully, Clydesdales being the commonest breed, but the small native garrons are now little used. Pigs also are reared. Save perhaps in the case of the crofts, or very small holdings of less than 10 acres, farm management is fully abreast of the times.
_Other Industries._--The staple industries are the jute and flax manufactures. Their headquarters are in Dundee, but they flourish also at other places. Shipbuilding is carried on at Dundee, Arbroath and Montrose. The manufactures of jams, confectionery, leather, machinery, soap and chemicals, are all of great and growing value. Sandstone quarries employ many hands and the deep-sea fisheries, of which Montrose is the centre, are of considerable importance. The netting of salmon at the mouth of the North Esk is also a profitable pursuit.
Two railway companies serve the county. The North British, entering from the south by the Tay Bridge, follows the coast north-eastwards, sending off at Montrose a branch to Bervie. The Caledonian runs up Strathmore to Forfar, whence it diverges due east to Guthrie, where it again resumes its north-easterly course to Dubton and Marykirk; it reaches Dundee from Perth by the shore of the estuary of the Tay, and sends branches from Dundee to Kirriemuir via Monikie and Forfar and to Alyth Junction via Newtyle, while a short line from Dubton gives it touch with Montrose.